7 Tips For A Consistently Great Website!

Here at Grats, we are experts when it comes to designing great websites, building great websites, and maintaining great websites (which includes keeping great content current, keeping website functionality smooth, and fixing broken websites). 

Trust us, having a consistently great website is a lot of work. But it is work that you can successfully do yourself, if you have the time and “know how”.

So, we thought that it would be helpful to take a moment, and share some of our “know how” with you:

1.    Your website needs to always be current and clean.

Just like a lobby with ragged carpet, peeling paint, and dated finishing touches is an off putting first impression, so is an out-of-date and/or messy website. A lot of permanent decisions are made based on those first impressions. 

Even if you run an organization that heavily relies on building location and foot traffic, your website is often still a digital façade and lobby. Why? Because many will see your location but still check you out online first… sometimes while sitting in your parking lot! (We have done it, and I will bet that you have too!)

Even if your organization relies heavily on invites and referrals, most of your target audience will still consult your website first, to make their “own determination” and first impression for themselves. 

• Has it been a year or more since your last blog post? 

• Is your website still copyrighted in 2022? 

• Is your website messy or wordy?

• Are your new services or products even mentioned on your website, let alone adequately represented? 

• Is it June and you have pictures from your last Christmas party? 

(I mean really, as beautiful as this scene is, it is out of place at best unless you are reading this post in November or December.)

On that last note, your website is a great litmus test concerning the growth of your organization. Growing organizations are always adding new things. If you go 6 to 12 months and have nothing new to add to your website, it’s a sign that your organization is not growing. Not growing is a sign that your organization is, is becoming, terminal! You need to connect with us about coaching here.

2.    Your website needs to always work well. 

Make sure that your website is not broken. 

• Do all of the links work correctly? 

• Do all of the tabs work correctly? 

• Do all of the contact forms work correctly?

• Do all the other functional aspects such as signups, programs, scheduling, forms, videos, payments, and the like, work correctly?

• Do the slugs match what each page is about?

• Are your SEO features set correctly?

• Does your cookies pop-up function as it should?

If you have no idea what those last three things are – it is a sign that you probably need a professional review of your website - reach out to us here for that help.

3.    Your website needs to be easy to navigate. 

Don’t mistake your own ability to navigate your website easily as proof your website is intuitively easy to navigate. 

Have someone over the age of 70, who’s never really been on your website, go through and navigate your website. In fact, you can give them a little scavenger hunt to find certain things. Then ask them how easy it was for them to navigate your website. Are they able to find everything with ease? 

Before you claim ageism here, understand the facts concerning many people over the age of 70… they did not grow up with the technology that many of us did. For many of us, technology as a whole is part of our “first language”.

Technology is a second language for most of them; one that they didn’t begin learning until later adulthood because it simply didn’t exist before then. They probably still know how to save messages on a cassette tape answering machine, and for some of you reading this, you may have not even known that such a thing ever existed.

Mastering any second language as an adult is a VERY difficult task. In fact, most don’t accomplish it. Technology is not different.

Don’t allow a technology language barrier to bar part of your target audience from getting to you! 

4.    Your website should clearly tell of your organization’s message, story, service, and/or product. 

Your website is a fantastic tool to evangelize your message, service, or product. How well is your website accomplishing that? 

Have someone under the age of 13, who has no idea of what you do, go to your website and look it over.

• Are they clearly understanding your intended messaging?

• Do your programs make sense to them?

Every public speaker is trained to deliver a message to a 6th grade level. Guess what, your website needs to accomplish the same!

5.    Your website should never have typos or grammar mistakes.

I know that for many of you, this goes without saying… but you would be very surprised what we have seen. Typos on a website GREATLY diminish the authority and expertise that your website is most likely trying to convey. (Oh, I so hope there are not any typos or grammar problems in this message!)

If you seem to not know the difference between "effect" and "affect", or between "their" and "there", many of your target audience will question the rest of your expertise and authority. 

6.    Keep an eye on rising costs.

Web hosting companies, like everyone else, raise their prices periodically. Like most things in business, shopping around from time to time is a good thing... including websites. Unfortunately, most websites cannot be moved, so the cost of building a new website will probably have to be factored into your cost factor decision. Still, sometimes a new website build is not only a good long term money saver, but also a great replacement for the old website build that has already been remodeled 9 times. 

Here is another rising cost that many people miss concerning their website: Shrinkflation. Whereas some companies will keep their prices the same but give you less of their product (known as Shrinkflation), web hosting companies may “upgrade” their hosting platform. The new platform will offer some new features, that will also come with a new price tag. But, you are not forced to upgrade. However, if you don’t upgrade, some of the functionality of your current website may not work properly. Your website costs stay the same, but your website's functionality, or even fit and feel, are now reduced or compromised... website Shrinkflation. (Your web hosting company probably already told you all of this using slicker marketing terms, but since they probably informed you through an annoying pop up in the middle of you needing to get something done on your website right now, you may have missed it. We have too!) 

And, for those of you that wondered when you read tip 2 above, why on earth a website would stop functioning properly, the above paragraph is most certainly one of those reasons why. 

7.    Audit your website at least once every 6 months.

Though we recommend once a quarter, you really should have a full audit of your website performed at least every 6 months. This will help you avoid living with many of the pitfalls of not following the 6 tips above. Yes, we know how much work this all is… in fact, we started this post by telling you that fact.

Closing thoughts. 

Again, designing, building, running, and maintaining a website is actually a lot of work, and takes a good amount of “know how”. Hopefully this message has helped you to grow in your “know how”, and has helped you to best tackle your website on your own.

If this message has caused you to realize that you still don’t have enough “know how”, that you don’t have enough time, or that you simply don’t want to deal with the hassle… please reach out to us here for help with your website. (Oh, and if you don't yet have a website, we highly recommend using that link to reach out to us before you start down the journey of trying to design and build one yourself, even from "templates".)